Study Abroad Programs Blog

Exploring Montevideo

By Lawrence Selby - Guest blogger traveling in Montevideo. It's always been my opinion that the best way to get to know a city is simply to walk around a lot and take a look. I'm well into my second week now, so I've had plenty of opportunities to explore the city. I try to take long walks at least every other day; it's a great way to relax and get a bit of exercise. The more that I come to know this place, I'm inclined to agree with what the Rough Guide said. Montevideo is a thoroughly likeable small city that is easy to get a feel for. It's also a bit eclectic and strange in a nice sort of way. From tourist standpoint, the major thoroughfare is La Rambla. La Rambla is a boulevard along the Rio de la Plata which runs roughly west to east for about 15 km from the Ciudad Vieja (old city) to the wealthier outskirts of the city along the beach at Carrasco (near the airport). La Rambla has many names. Every km or so the name changes. Some of the names that I've seen include: Rbla Francia, Rbla Armenia, Rbla President Wilson, Rbla Mahatma Gandhi, ... I'm sure that there's a reason that they chose these names and this scheme though it does strike me as a bit strange. There are many statues and monuments along La Rambla and the surrounding areas. Again, there doesn't seem to be too much of a pattern. I saw a monument dedicated to Confucius, another to some sort of Neptune goddess, and a Jewish holocaust memorial (which in itself isn't strange, but the monument is rather bizarre). I also saw a bronze statue dedicated to some guy with a Spanish name that lived approximately 100 years ago. This last statue probably made the most sense to me. There are beaches along many stretches of La Rambla and also a small harbor, soccer fields, parks and the occasional restaurant or cafe. Every time that I've seen it, the water has always been a sort of light chocolate brown color, though I'm told that this does change at times. People tell me that this is because of the silt runoff upstream and not pollution. There is some graffiti in spots and the infrastructure and surrounding buildings are a bit run down in places. It doesn't seem dangerous, though. I'm told Montevideo has one of the highest per capita police forces in the world. When the weather is nice, there's always a small crowd relaxing and strolling along La Rambla in Pocitos (one of the wealthier barrios about 5+ km from the Ciudad Vieja). The Ciudad Vieja is probably the top tourist attraction in Montevideo. It's a small area (probably one km square) located between the old port and El Centro barrio. As the name implies, the Ciudad Vieja is the original Montevideo and is composed of Spanish style antique row houses. There are a few pretty squares and (of course) more statues and monuments. Most of the statues in this area are more traditional, usually a man on a horse with a sword drawn (or with some similar pose). As I wandered into the area, I felt a comfortable feeling of recognition with the energy and vibe. For lack of better words, it seems a little bit like the West Village (in New York City) with the old buildings and architecture of Seville, Spain. The thing that I found most interesting about the place (and maybe I'm a bit strange for feeling this way) is that the restoration of the Ciudad Vieja is probably about 50% complete at best. Sometimes when you stand at an intersection and look a block down the road you can see blocks of gutted and completely abandoned old ornate Spanish row houses. So, within one glance you can see the buildings in all the various states of repair: blown out, partially repaired and completely restored. To me this contrast lends a feeling of authenticity about the place that I wouldn't have felt if it were completely gentrified. There are ¨For Sale¨ signs on many of the fringe row houses; I'm sure Donald Trump would be salivating.

Experiencing Uruguay

By Lawrence Selby - Guest blogger traveling in Montevideo. A word about the discotheques here in Montevideo and the Cuidad Vieja. I'm not a huge fan of the club scene but it's pretty much my observation that the discotheque clubs are basically the same in whatever city you are in (perhaps Brazil may be the exception). From what I've seen, Montevideo has a decent amount of beautiful women, though (in my humble opinion) it doesn't even come close to Rio de Janeiro or even New York City. The clubs here get going around 2 am and wind down (I'm told) at around 7 am. Enrique, a former student at the Spanish school here (from Sacramento, CA) came up with a clever idea to meet women. He would march me up to groups of women and say in excellent Mexican accented Spanish, "This is my friend, Lawrence, from New York City. He doesn't speak much Spanish, but he loves to dance!" It worked ok for a while, though I was barely able to understand any Spanish over the blaring nightclub music (some women spoke a little English). Though, because I can pass for a Latino with my features, they seemed a bit skeptical that I was really from NYC. After I tried to speak to them in Spanish for a bit, they seemed to become convinced fairly quickly. On Sunday, I made a day trip out to Punta del Este (about 1-1/2 hour bus ride from Montevideo). Punta del Este is a famous beach resort here in Uruguay which is especially popular with the Argentineans. It is supposedly one of the top summer resorts in South America. The bus terminal is conveniently located at the top of the resort peninsula. One side of the peninsula faces the Rio del Plata and the other the Atlantic Ocean. The coastline around the peninsula is about 5 km (more or less). At this time of year (autumn) the weather is a bit cold and windy (60´s Fahrenheit), so there weren't many people on the beach only a few fisherman and some surfers in full wetsuits. The place seemed nice enough, though with a pretty harbor, a fish market and lots of sidewalk restaurants and cafes along the river side of the peninsula. On the ocean, the water was much rougher and the high rise resort buildings gave way to a nice neighborhood of beautiful beach houses with some bright colors and interesting architecture. On the whole, Punta seems like a pleasant enough place, though nothing to rave about. I can see it being a totally different experience in the summer, though. I can imagine: drinking beers on a sidewalk cafe watching the beautiful people walk by, body surfing in the ocean and watching all the pretty topless girls on the beach (I'm not sure if the women bathe topless here, but hey it's my dream). As I was waiting for the bus back to Montevideo, it started to rain hard for a few minutes and when the sun came out I saw the most perfect rainbow that I've ever seen, stretched over the ocean. I'm not a big rainbow chaser or anything like that but this one was pretty impressive. It was actually a double rainbow and all the colors of ROY G BIV were clear and vivid. This reminded me of one of my favorite demotivational pictures at www.despair.com (see blog picture). "Dreams are like rainbows. Only idiots chase them."

Chasing Rainbows

By Lawrence Selby - Guest blogger traveling in Montevideo. The weather wasn't great this weekend so I didn't end up going to Punta del Este for an extended weekend trip. On Friday, I made plans to go to Buenos Aires for next weekend and then went to a discotheque. On Saturday, I attended a few parties. Then on Sunday, I did a day trip out to Punta. Making the reservations for the Buenos Aires trip and inquiries about the bus schedule to Punta on primera de mayo (Monday, May 1st) turned out to be a fairly painful experience, but it all worked out in the end. Another detail that I tend to forget about travel is the difficulty in making travel arrangements in train and bus stations. As I´m saying this, a time comes to mind when I was in Paris with a few friends and trying to book a train south to Lyon. We had to wait in line and get a ticket to make the reservations. The number that we got was (as best that I can remember) several hundred spots away from the number that they were currently serving. When we came back a few hours later the number that they were on was about 100 or so past our number. And of course, they wanted us to pick a new number ... but, I digress. A big difference between Western Europe and Uruguay is that almost everyone there in the tourism industry speaks English with some level of fluency whereas here almost no one does. After waiting in line for about an hour, I was able to arrange my Buenos Aires trip with Buquebus. This includes: roundtrip bus and ferry service from Montevideo to Bs. As., 2 nights at a 4 star hotel in central Bs. As. (with full breakfast), and shuttle service to-from the ferry terminal to the hotel, all for the very reasonable price of $224! What didn't work out as well was my attempts to figure out the bus schedule from Punta del Este to Montevideo on primero de mayo. I talked to about 4 different people and the best that I could understand was that, yes there are buses, but who knows who many and when. No schedule is available and they certainly would not be available to write the arrival and departure times down on a piece of paper for me. However, what I could do is come back tomorrow and ask someone else (preferably a different person). At the end of the final fruitless conversation, the guy (clearly looking annoyed) just kept saying, manyana, manyana ... It was then I decided to just make Punta a daytrip on Sunday. Uruguay is, after all, a Latin American country.

Learning a New Language is a Long Road

By Lawrence Selby - Guest blogger traveling in Montevideo. It's Thursday night and I've been here almost 5 days now. My Spanish is definitely improving, though I have my good moments and my bad moments. Most of today was bad and most of yesterday was good. I'm finding out that my ability to concentrate, understand and converse is strongly dependent on the amount of sleep that I've had and how relaxed I am. I stayed out relatively late last night and went to a parrillada (an Uruguayan BBQ and steakhouse) with Adrian and his girlfriend. The food was good and we had a bunch of beers. I didn't get enough sleep, though, and was having a much rougher time in class today. This in turn made me more irritable which didn't help matters. I took a long nap in the afternoon because I knew that I needed to clear my head. As I said to my professor today in class, "Aprender un idioma nuevo es un camino largo." So, I might as well try to relax a bit and enjoy the scenery. Aside About the Parrilladas: Uruguay and Argentina are famous for their beef. I can't count the number of times that I've heard or read about this. They say that the reason for this has to do with the type of grass that the cows eat. This sounds similar to the claim that New York bagels are the best because of the type of water that they use. Because of this, I felt that it was almost obligatory to go and try it. Though the steak was an excellent cut and I enjoyed it, I can't say that it tasted much different than a good piece of meat in New York. I think it all goes back to the expectations. They will get you every time (see prior blog about Brokeback Mountain). Next Monday is a holiday here, el primero de Mayo (El dia los trabajadores). Apparently the 1st of May is the Labor Day holiday in most of the world (except for the U.S. and Canada). Because we don't have classes on Monday, I think that I will try to book a hotel for Saturday and possibly Sunday nights in Punta del Este. Though the water is probably too cold for swimming, it would be nice to stretch out and relax a bit. Yes, a vacation from a vacation! My only concern is that supposedly everything shuts down on the holiday so I'll need to buy some food provisions in advance and make sure that I will be able to find a bus that will take me back to Montevideo on Monday. It also may be a bit late to find rooms in such a popular resort for a holiday weekend, though I'm hoping that more will be available since this is an off peak season. After that, I'll have two more weekends here. I will definitely need to visit Buenos Aires for one of them. For the other, I'd like to go and see the Iguazu Falls (in the Amazon at the border of Argentina and Brazil) though this would require a plane flight and probably a travel agent. Why Uruguay? I knew almost next to nothing about Uruguay before I arranged this trip. The AmeriSpan program selector (a web based tool) seemed to think that Montevideo was the best place in the world for me to study Spanish, though. No matter how many times I changed the criteria, Montevideo always came up as the top program for me. So, I did a bit of research. Talking to a few Argentineans and surfing the web I found out that Uruguay is very similar in climate and culture to the Buenos Aires region of Argentina (Buenos Aires is about 150 km away from Montevideo and can be reached easily via ferry). Montevideo and especially the nearby Punta del Este (100 km) are known for their excellent beaches. Agriculture is the main industry and both countries share the same "gaucho" heritage. My theory is that Argentineans regard Uruguay very similar to the way that people in the US think of Canada. The way that most Americans think of Canada as a "kind of big northern state", Argentineans probably regard Uruguay as an "eastern province with good beaches". Or, maybe a better analogy would be the way that people in Philadelphia think about the Jersey shore? I'll test out this theory once I get to know a few people in Montevideo! :-) Here's what the Rough Guide says about Montevideo: "Intensely likeable, the capital, Montevideo is of an easily manageable size, and it doesn't take long to feel at home. The city boasts some magnificent architecture, less high-rise and oppressive than Buenos Aires, while retaining a relaxed atmosphere."

Secrets of Thai Cooking

By Kayla Allen - Like 5 years ago it seemed that every time I was going out to dinner with a friend, that friend was telling me about this amazing Thai restaurant we just had to go to. Consequently, I've been to Thai restaurants in San Francisco, Portland, Olympia, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Tucson, etc. basically everywhere in the US that my friends have lived. I don't think I enjoyed a single one of those meals but I know that has no bearing whatsoever on Thai food in general. It's me. It's my quirk (one of many). Although I love eating out it's always sort of a harrowing experience for me because I'm cursed with the inability to order the item on the menu that I actually would like to eat. I feel this weird pressure when the waiter or waitress asks, “what would you like?” and inevitably, even though I've already settled on what I would like to order, at the last minute I pick the dark horse, something I was momentarily interested in and yet had quickly decided against. Before I know it, my order is in, is being prepared and I sit and hope beyond hope that I've unwittingly ordered a great new dish, although I absolutely know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm lying to myself. The truth is, it will be virtually inedible. As you would imagine, I cook at home a lot which allows me to totally avoid the inevitable, “what would you like?” question faced in restaurants. But because of my bad luck in Thai restaurants I've never ventured that direction in the kitchen. However, I do realize that all my friends and their friends can't be wrong, I'm sure Thai food is delicious…when ordered or prepared correctly. For me, that's the real secret, how to order what I might actually like. But others might find this helpful: Thai food is heavily influenced by a wide variety of cooking styles including Portuguese, Dutch, French, Japanese and Chinese. Thais were very good at integrating foreign ingredients as well as substituting with local, more readily available ingredients. Herbs contribute a lot to the overall flavor of the food and spices are toned down. Two herbs that you find frequently in Thai food are lemongrass and galanga. To serve a Thai meal properly you should include a soup, a curry dish, and a dip with accompanying fish and vegetables. Sometimes the curry dish is replaced with a spiced salad. If you'd like your soup spicy you should then replace the curry with something less spicy. The trick is to serve or order a variety of flavors that compliment each other even from dish to dish. With food I definitely follow the philosophy that if you fall off the horse you should get right back on. So Thai food hasn't seen the last of me.

US - Based Language Programs

By Alexa Boyce - When people call asking about our US-Based language programs, the question I most often hear is “How can I be immersed in the Spanish language and Latin American culture without leaving the US?” As you may know, the Hispanic population in the United States has been growing exponentially in recent years. Many cities with more established Hispanic populations have neighborhoods where the Latinos are concentrated. As a reference, think of Little Italy or Chinatown. One of these is Little Havana in Miami. This is where our Miami language classes and homestays take place. The school is run and taught by all native Spanish speakers. It is a sister school to our schools in Caracas and Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. Denver does not actually have one specific neighborhood where Hispanic families are concentrated. However, the Hispanic population in Denver increased by 82 percent between 1990 and 2000. As of 2004, 21.7% of Denver's population was Hispanic. Our school in Denver is run by native speakers as well, and is a sister school to many of our schools in Latin America including Buenos Aires 2 and Santiago. It certainly may be easier to speak English outside of class in either of our US locations as compared to our locations abroad. That is why it is important to challenge yourself daily to use Spanish wherever possible. If you are determined to practice your Spanish, you will not have a shortage of native speakers to talk to.

Settling in Here

By Lawrence Selby - Guest blogger traveling in Montevideo. It's been two days and I've settled in a bit here in Montevideo. The "almost" total immersion thing is not comfortable yet by any stretch of the imagination, though even now I'm starting to feel (perhaps I'm imagining it?) that I'm able to talk to people and understand them a little bit better. I've found a few markets and a bakery in the neighborhood and tomorrow I'm going to look for a cyber cafe that is supposedly nearby. This is important because I need to post my blogs and file for my first unemployment check! I've had a chance to see some more of Montevideo, though mostly the areas along Las Ramblas. I went on an excursion (through the school) with the son of the administrator whose name is Adrian. He's a big gregarious Uruguayan and instantly likeable. We went to see el Museo Castillo Pittamiglio. The museum architecture and interior furnishing are (no other words here come to mind) "Gaudi-esque" and interesting to say the least. It has a strange appeal with ornate walls carvings and strangely sloped ceiling, mirrors placed strategically on the walls and many oddly shaped nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, I didn't understand much of what the tour guide said. But, from what I gathered the legend has it that an alchemist once lived there and the place is haunted. Adrian runs all the excursions and seems to know all the ins and outs of Montevideo, so I'm sure I'll learn a lot more from him. The instruction at the Spanish school has been good and I like my professors, Juan and Leticia. Classes are from 9 am to 1 pm with 5 minute breaks on the hour. Unfortunately, what I didn't realize is that this is an extremely low season for the school (its the middle of autumn here in Uruguay) and that the vast majority of students come in the summertime (December to March). There is only one other student in my class and perhaps one or two others taking more advanced classes at the school. This makes socializing a bit more difficult, so I'll need to be more proactive in meeting other people and planning my excursions. As my Spanish fluency and confidence improves it should get easier.

Arriving to Montevideo

By Lawrence Selby - Guest blogger traveling in Montevideo. Extremely Jet Lagged I always forget how much of a pain-in-the-neck traveling can be. My memory seems to always filter this out after the trip is over and skip to the highlights. I arrived at Montevideo today extremely jet lagged. There was a bit of a concern in the Buenos Aires airport when I heard the United Airlines gate attendants speaking rapidly in Spanish and mentioning my name repeatedly. When I questioned her, the gate attendant told me that American Airlines had forgotten to transfer my luggage onto the plane. However, I should not worry because my luggage would most likely be waiting for me at the baggage claim in Montevideo! Needless to say, I was a bit concerned. However, at that moment a man arrived speaking on a handset and told us that they had located my bags and that they were on the plane after all. Perfecto! From what I've seen of Montevideo, so far, it seems pretty much on-par with what I've expected and the descriptions in the Rough Guide. Though I haven't ventured into the Cuidad Vieja (old city) and have only been in what is considered the outskirts of the city (Parque Rodo and Pocitos Barrios) this seems like a pleasant enough and relatively laid back Latin American city by the beach. Las Ramblas is a main thoroughfare along the Rio Plata (River Platte) and runs the southern length of the city. Some sections do seem a bit run down, but not much and there is a good energy about the place. One of the strange things I saw is that there seems to be a craze here (what I gather) is some sort of strong green tea called mate. I noticed lots of young people walking along Las Ramblas carrying these strange huge flasks with many straws in them. I can't help but wonder if the drink is laced with something! By far, the biggest adjustment has been the (almost) total Spanish immersion. My hosts, Sr. and Sra. Ortega speak no English at all. I arrived just before the big Sunday family brunch where I had a chance to meet my hosts and the extended family. This included their 2 daughters, one son, their spouses and several grandchildren. Everyone was extremely gracious, but the long afternoon meal passed without any English spoken, whatsoever. As I was extremely tired from the long trip and mentally drained from some long conversations in broken Spanish with Alejandro (the grass and pecan consultant from Buenos Aires) this was a bit much and my brain was reeling from the newness of everything. Hopefully with some rest tonight and some rapid improvement in my Spanish fluency things will smooth out a bit.

Travel Uruguay - Experience from a Student !

By Lawrence Selby - Guest blogger traveling in Montevideo. He is a student going through a Spanish Language Immersion Program during 4 weeks in Montevideo. He will be telling us about his experience LIVE during his trip! Final Preparations Nothing really exciting to report for today. Last night, I wrote up a big list of errands that I need to run, places to go, and things to buy for today. Today, I basically just went down the list. Actually, I should say that I am still going down the list there's still 3 or 4 more things to do. I have yet to pack, though I usually do this last. I usually find that packing is the easy part once everything is lined up and organized. How do I feel? To be honest, I feel a bit nervous. This is kind of like the feeling that I used to get before I big exam or maybe even a wrestling match in high school. I'm sure that I will struggle and flounder with communication in Uruguay, but what else? I was thinking back today of when I went back to graduate school at UVA. I moved into the graduate dorms for the winter semester. I didn't know anyone there except for a few professors. I was anxious about being a TA in a subject that I didn't have much background and leading a weekly 60 minute recitation class. It all worked out great in the end. The day after I moved in, I was playing broomball in an ice hockey rink with a bunch of other students and Dave Matthews was blaring from the speakers. Life is strange ... On the Way There I made my first friend of the trip today. The man sitting next to me on the plane (Alejandro) is an agricultural engineer and a worldwide consultant on grasses and pecans from Buenos Aires. He was on a trip to the States consulting about golf courses and polo fields. He went out of his way to give me his contact information and the names and telephone numbers of a few of his close friends in Montevideo. When I went to Brasil a few years ago, a similar thing happened on the plane. One of the best things about travel is that is reaffirms the fact that most people are really nice when you get a chance to chat with them for a few minutes. Watching too much news on TV or reading the papers can make you jaded about the inate goodness in people. Larry's blogs will be posted Monday and Thursdays.. to be continued.

Travel Spain - Experiencing Paella

By Anne-Marie Dingemans Spain has so many nice traditional dishes, it's hard to pick a favorite one. I am definitely a social eater, so the environment, presentation and company are very important to my overall ‘eating experience' as well. So if we take all that into consideration, I would say I would pick paella over the Cocido Madrileno, Jamon, Croquetas, and the hundreds of other Spanish delicious dishes. An added bonus is that paella is one of the few dishes that isn't soaked in olive oil, so it's also a good option for the calorie-conscious and the ones with delicate digestive systems. The best paella I've ever eaten was in this small village just outside of Valencia, in the heart of the National Park Albufeira, a huge fresh water lake, only separated from the sea by dunes. The Albufeira lake is the source of water for the huge paella-rice fields in this area. Eating a paella in the birth place of the dish raises your expectations, so it was even more impressive that I wasn't disappointed. I said before that the overall experience was important to me, and eating paella ‘the right way' surely is a pleasure. ‘The right way', for me at least, is going to a specialty restaurant where the paella is prepared to order, on wood fires, and the entire pan is served at your table. You scoop up the rice, trying to get the crunchy bits off the bottom. Seriously, after you've eaten one of these, getting a plate of paella from a huge deep pan somewhere in the back of the kitchen, is just not the same. You'll be spoiled for life. Paellas come in all kinds of different flavors and types. In the Valencia province paellas are also often referred to as ‘Arroces' (Rices). Perhaps the best known is the Seafood paella, but there is also the meat paella (traditionally containing chicken, rabbit and duck), Fish paella, vegetarian paella, black paella (made with squid and it's own ink – resulting in a black colored paella. It's really very tasty), ‘arroz a banda' with calamares and lots and lots of ali-oli (garlic mayonnaise) and many more. Further, there are paellas which aren't even made of rice, but with vermicelli (a very thin spaghetti). You see, there is a paella for everyone, and every family has its own secret recipe. This is a nice website with different paella recipes for those of you who want to make one. My personal tip: keep the layer of rice very thin, one inch approximately. Happy cooking!

French Culture - Film Review

By Kayla Allen - I love almost everything French. When I visited Paris it took a lot of convincing by my boyfriend at the time to get me to go anywhere else in Europe and even more convincing to get me back on the plane home to the states. I quite simply just never wanted to leave. Everything seemed beautiful to me. Even I felt more beautiful. I felt like I was in a film; the gorgeous French film of my life in Paris. I'm sure it feels different if you actually have to work in Paris and you can't spend your days running from museum to café and drinking delicious wine next to Notre Dame and strolling down the river at night with the Eiffel tower just in the distance, but that's how it was for me. And I wanted more and more. As they tend to do, my vacation ended and I found myself back at my apartment with Paris very far away. Enter, French film, ah. I will go back to Paris as many times as I can in my life but in the meantime I supplement my France fixation with film. Paris can sometimes seem even more picturesque in Black & White. I'm going to hold myself to talk about just two movies, Breathless and Irma Vep. Breathless was made in 1959 and Irma Vep in 1996. They feel very different and I love them both. Irma Vep is interesting because it actually follows a French director trying to make an updated version of a French series and trying to capture and retain its “Frenchness” while remaining true to his artistic vision and using, in his estimation the perfect woman for the role, a Chinese actress who speaks no French. A movie within a movie. There's so much discussion in this film about French film, the dialogue is done plainly yet wittily, it's visually gorgeous and there's just enough bashing of American blockbusters to make you laugh. And then there's the end. The end is so silent, gorgeous, sad and breathtaking it made my heart actually ache. All I will say about Breathless is that if you haven't seen it, you must and if you've seen it once you should watch it again. Some other heart stoppers include: Belle du Jour That Obscure Object of Desire (same director as above) Blue White Red (same director for all three colors) Amelie (of course) Le Femme Nikita Man on a Train (love, love, love)